{"id":1313,"date":"2022-05-03T07:57:53","date_gmt":"2022-05-03T07:57:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/masobebooks.com\/ng\/?p=1313"},"modified":"2024-05-22T16:55:00","modified_gmt":"2024-05-22T16:55:00","slug":"review-a-whole-other-world-on-an-island","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/masobebooks.com\/ng\/review-a-whole-other-world-on-an-island\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: A whole other world on \u2018An Island\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Reviewer:\u00a0<\/em><strong>Mariam Abdullahi<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>Title:<\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/masobebooks.com\/books\/an-island\/\">\u00a0<strong>An Island<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>Author:<\/em>\u00a0<strong>Karen Jennings<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>Publisher:<\/em>\u00a0<strong>Masobe<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>Released:<\/em>\u00a0<strong>2022<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>Pages:\u00a0<\/em><strong>205<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>When I picked up a copy of \u2018An Island\u2019 by Karen Jennings, I had already read about it here and there on the internet. It had made it onto the longlist for the 2021 Booker Prize, and was also on a good number of must-read lists. I was already aware that I had an interesting novel in my hands, but nothing I had read or heard about it prepared me for the kind of story that awaited me within its pages. It is an artful balance that the writer strikes within the confines of the island, and the main character\u2019s dark history. Nigerians might find some familiarity in the situation of a country where independence is won from colonisers, but is tragically swallowed by a military dictatorship.<\/p>\n<p>The plot of \u2018An Island\u2019 is simple, or so it seems:\u00a0<em>A young refugee washes up unconscious on the beach of a small island inhabited by no one but 70-year-old Samuel, a lighthouse keeper. Unsettled, Samuel is soon swept up in memories of his former life on the mainland: a life that saw his country suffer under colonisers, then fight for independence, only to fall under the rule of a cruel dictator; and he recalls his own part in its history.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>We read about how Samuel\u2019s family \u2013 while enduring the aforementioned tyrant\u2019s rule \u2013 is drawn into their country\u2019s struggle for freedom. Events unfold, and he finds himself in dire straits, almost literally, after which he is freed into a society he cannot recognise anymore, leading him to the job of lighthouse keeper on the remote, titular island. For me, the best parts of this story are those which have Samuel questioning his reality, and indeed his innocence, especially so after a nameless immigrant is washed onto the island\u2019s shores, disrupting our protagonist\u2019s newfound version of a peaceful if haunted life.<\/p>\n<p>And it is at this point that Jennings\u2019 true mastery becomes crystal clear. The way at which the plot is paced is quite similar to that of a terse psychological thriller, replete with intrigues, mystery, and even murder. The writer\u2019s approach has her telling quite a tale without naming some characters and even some places. But rather than take anything away, it gives it quite an \u2018applicable-ness\u2019 that makes it work on an organic level. Interestingly, too, while her style is quite distinct and descriptive, it somehow still feels like a classic, only one which I have never read before.<\/p>\n<p>My only disappointment with this book remains its length: clocking at a rather lean 200-plus pages, I did not want it to end. The characters and their stories \u2013 while deftly and satisfyingly told \u2013 all suggested we could have had more meat to the stories of their lives, and in some cases, even their death. But even at that, \u2018An Island\u2019 is a literary triumph which never takes its reader for granted. It may be short, but it remains powerful. Maybe it\u2019s true that some disappointments are blessings, since due to its length \u2013 or lack of \u2013 the world Jennings brought to life in \u2018An Island\u2019 is one I will be returning to regularly, reread after reread.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Mariam Abdullahi, a Civil Engineer, lives in Abuja.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Reviewer:\u00a0Mariam Abdullahi Title:\u00a0An Island Author:\u00a0Karen Jennings Publisher:\u00a0Masobe Released:\u00a02022 Pages:\u00a0205 When I picked up a copy of \u2018An Island\u2019 by Karen Jennings, I had already read about it here and there on the internet. It had made it onto the longlist for the 2021 Booker Prize, and was also on a good number of must-read lists.&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1314,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[335],"tags":[],"thb-sponsors":[],"class_list":["post-1313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reviews","thb-post-share-style1"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v23.1 (Yoast SEO v26.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Review: A whole other world on \u2018An Island\u2019 - Masobe Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/masobebooks.com\/ng\/review-a-whole-other-world-on-an-island\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Review: A whole other world on \u2018An Island\u2019\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Reviewer:\u00a0Mariam Abdullahi Title:\u00a0An Island Author:\u00a0Karen Jennings Publisher:\u00a0Masobe Released:\u00a02022 Pages:\u00a0205 When I picked up a copy of \u2018An Island\u2019 by Karen Jennings, I had already read about it here and there on the internet. 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